Daily Devotion

As we continue our journey through the season of Advent; a season of waiting, hoping, preparing for the coming of Christ, we ponder how to be ready when Christ comes among us.  This week our theme is “preparing our homes.”  We will look at some things that we can do to create space around us that will invite us into times of prayer and contemplation, and also call us to live lives that reflect the one for whom we wait. 

During previous Advent/Christmas Seasons many of you probably hosted friends and family in your homes.  Whether it was a gathering of friends from work or church, a neighborhood party or members of your extended family, you opened your home and extended hospitality to others.  Perhaps you even felt like that was a part of how you “prepared your home for the coming of Christ.” 

Hospitality is an important concept in scripture.  It was an expectation that you would house and feed any who came to your door.  See the story of Abraham and the three visitors in Genesis 18, or the story of Elizabeth welcoming Mary when they were both pregnant in Luke 1. Then there is this wonderful verse, Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

While we may not be welcoming as many people to our homes this year because of COVID, we will still have ample opportunity to offer hospitality to others, including those we meet in our everyday lives.  What might it look like to offer hospitality to store clerks, drive thru cashiers, office receptionists, co-workers?  Hospitality is a posture not a place. Hospitality means creating space for another—which can either be in our home, or in our heart.  Even if it’s only for a moment, “holding space” for another can be a way to offer the love of Christ.

Earlier this Fall, Carol Wuebbling, a member of GSLC wrote our daily devotion.  In it she told the story of doing some landscaping at her home in Michigan.  She created a nice little sitting area in the shade of her yard, complete with a bench to sit on.  She intended it as a place for herself to enjoy the shade, but soon she discovered that others from the neighborhood were also finding refuge in her spot during their regular walks on her street.  Carol saw this not as an intrusion, but as a wonderful opportunity to extend hospitality to strangers.  In these days of COVID and isolation she was able to safely offer a listening ear to her visiting angels.  To read Carol’s devotion you can click here:  Devotion

Be on the lookout for how you might extend hospitality to strangers—as a posture, not a place—as you prepare your “home” for the coming of Christ. 

If you are reading Luke’s Gospel this month, today is Luke 10.   Here is the link: Luke 10